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Does SEO Work Instantly?

Does SEO work instantly? This is a question that those with a limited amount of knowledge on the subject tend to ask as well as those that are having a website designed and have heard about this wonderful thing called Search Engine Optimization.

But here’s the thing.

A number of people are being misled in that they are being made to believe that brand new SEO campaigns are going to result in instantaneous results. However, this is not true.

People also make the mistake of believing that just because their website has appeared somewhere on Google that it means SEO is working. Instead, it basically means that Google has sent their spider to the website and indexed it. This is something that is completely different, but those companies that are providing SEO in a shady manner and are best to be avoided.

So, How Long Does it Take?

The answer to this question is like the proverbial ‘how long is a piece of string?’ because if you spend some time conducting research into this, then you will see that people do differ with their opinions. However, if you are willing to keep to the rules, and not everybody does, then in order to rank high up for various keywords can take somewhere in the region of six months.

Now, we know that six months sounds like an eternity, but there is a very good reason for that as we will now explain.

Why it Takes so Long.

There are several things that contribute to the length of time that it takes SEO to show some kind of returns for the work that is carried out. First, you need to grow various aspects of it slowly and in a more organic fashion. This was certainly not always the case in the past, but Google then clamped down on those individuals that sought to break the rules.

Also, if your website is brand new with no history, then it takes even longer to then build up those all important backlinks and the various other aspects that are attributed to a successful SEO campaign. This is because the work that is carried out has nothing to build upon. It has to start from scratch and involves pretty much baby steps to get the absolute core of the campaign correctly established.

If you are involved in things such as keyword stuffing or throwing a huge number of pointless backlinks to your website, then this is going to get you nowhere. Sure, Google might at first rank you higher up than you expected, but that is not something that will last.

In other words, it takes so long because Google have designed their algorithms in such a way that you need to play the long game. You need to be prepared to work at slowly building those quality links and adding more and more content that is seen as being beneficial to your website and those that visit. If you suddenly appear on their radar with a brand new domain and yet you have the same number of links as an established site, then the alarm bells are going to be going off.

So Can You Speed it Up?

We understand that there will be people out there that are frustrated and annoyed at the idea of it taking months for results to be noticed, but you have to remember this one thing. The results that you see after say six months are going to pale into insignificance to the results that you will have in 12 months if you keep the campaign going.

This is because it is an organic thing and because it is organic then you can try to do several things, within the rules, to speed it up.

For this, you can make sure that your campaign covers all of the different aspects of SEO. This means making sure that you have your keywords contained in quality content, meta tags, alt tags, build those quality backlinks, social signals, the list goes on. It makes sense that if you use the different aspects of SEO that actually count for something and do so on a regular basis, then you will grow faster than you otherwise would.

So what’s the point in all of this?

The point is to try and steer you away from those companies or individuals that claim they can achieve these amazing things in a few days when it comes to SEO. They will try to charge you a fortune for this as they attempt to sweep you up in this tidal wave of enthusiasm and the belief that your website is going to become famous overnight.

Don’t fall for it. Patience is indeed a virtue and when the potential future of your website is at risk then surely it is in your best interests to ignore those false promises and look at the long term?

Incorporating SEO Into Your Blog Posts

If you either already operate a blog or are intending to do so, then you may forget about using SEO in order to boost each and every post that you write. However, if this is indeed the case, then you are not alone and the difference that it could make to the exposure that your posts would then receive is astonishing.

This becomes an even bigger problem when the blog part of your website is not even the main reason for it existing. People will tend to focus on other aspects of the website and all of their SEO work will go on the home page and even the ‘about us’ page. The blog is left alone, but then even if you are planning on changing how you approach it and incorporating some optimization, how do you do it? Well, it is all too easy to go wrong if you are not careful.

1. Focus on just one or two keywords.

The first thing to consider is that you should not overdo the keywords that you then focus on. Instead, it is best to look at concentrating on just one or two keywords and no more. You can then have slight variations in how they are included in your post so you can play around, but the actual core keywords should be limited.

Trying to include too many different keywords is only going to lead to your post looking rather disjointed and it will be difficult to keep it on track if your mind is pretty much entirely focused on trying to include those keywords.

2. Consider long-tail keywords.

One thing that has changed is that people are becoming better at searching using rather extended terms. This means that they really do know what they are looking for and they seek to get as precise an answer as possible. It used to be the case that people were often rather generic when they were searching.

From your perspective, you should take those one or two keywords that you have decided to focus on and look at the ways in which people are using them in order to carry out searches. It is then in your best interest to look at how to incorporate them into each and every blog post. Remember, this is going to really boost your organic search results for each and every topic that you are blogging about.

3. Remember the images.

A lot of people also include images when they are writing their blog posts, and if this is what you are doing then you should not miss them out when it comes to SEO. For this, you have to go ahead and make sure that the ALT Image tags are included since even that can boost the way in which people pick up your posts.

You must remember that search engines cannot really search for those images directly and they focus on using words as tags. If you do not do this, then they will not be able to pick up on them and you will then be missing out on some extra traffic.

4. You can include the meta tags.

If you are using the likes of WordPress, then you will have the option to include some plugins that help with SEO and you need to go ahead and use them to your advantage as often as possible. Yoast is certainly one of the most popular and this has been shown to help boost awareness of blog posts and yet the crazy thing is that a lot of individuals might install it, but they will then not bother actually doing it.

This is sheer madness because all you have to do is basically complete the different boxes that come with each page or post that you are creating and it pretty much does everything for you. Now, if it is that simple then why would you want to just not do it because of being lazy?

Blog posts are knowing to play an important role in the development of a website and increasing awareness of what you are all about. More and more businesses are being tempted into running a blog as a direct result of this and we are not just talking about major companies either. Anybody can do this and your blog posts do not even have to be that long. However, regularity is certainly important so even if you do one post every single week then you are going to benefit from it.

At the end of the day, drop that idea of just putting up a post and leaving it for anybody to find. You have to take the post to those people that will be most interested in what you are talking about and how are they going to find you in the sea of posts that are out there on the Internet if you do not give them what they are looking for.

Is Keyword Research Dead?

seo-keywordsAfter Google announced the Hummingbird update in 2013, it was believed by many that keyword research was no longer as prominent and important as it once was. Well, we just do not believe that this is the case. Instead, adequate keyword research is going to undoubtedly boost yourself in the search engines and it is just a case of being aware of how to do it correctly in order to get the best possible results.

The confusion has arisen because the Hummingbird update did not look at keywords and there was also a debate that voice activated search is also rendering them useless, but that is not always the case. What is rather happening is that keyword research is actually just as important today as it was prior to that Google update and we will show why that is the case.

Locating High Traffic Opportunities.

Having a website that receives no traffic is pointless. However, keyword research still has a major role to play in allowing you to unearth opportunities that are out there that also have high traffic levels. Now, this means you end up effectively playing the numbers game because if you are using keywords that get a lot of searches then you are gambling that you will be able to get a share of that particular traffic pie.

This is something that you will be unable to do without carrying out keyword research.

Dealing with Long Tail Keywords.

If you were of the opinion that long tail keywords that have little competition would be a waste of time, then think again. Instead, as long as it gets a reasonable amount of traffic then it is worth checking out.

Think of it this way. If there is no competition, then there is a better chance of you being able to get a higher percentage of that traffic and then hopefully convert it into paying customers or whatever it is that your website is about. If you optimize content for various long tail keywords of this ilk then it all adds up.

Once again, none of this would be possible without you carrying out keyword research.

Make Sure You Use the Correct Language.

This is a feature of keyword research that is often overlooked in that it allows you to determine if you are using the correct language in your content.

Now, by this we do not mean English, Spanish or whatever. Instead, we are talking about those key terms or words that people identify with whatever it is that your website is about.

Say for example your website is all about dogs. You want to make sure that your content contains various terms related to dogs and in a style that is attractive to those people that visit your site. By doing this, people are going to actually pay attention more to what you are saying and, of course, they will also find your website more easily because of the way in which you have used those keywords in your content.

The chances of you being able to do this effectively without keyword research are practically zero.

Boosting Your SERPs.

It is important to remember that it is not just with the content that you need to think about keyword research. Instead, you have to be aware of how you get the individual to actually click on your link in the search engine results pages in the first place.

For this, you have to think about your meta tags and meta description as both of those areas are going to be key. Your use of keywords has to entice the individuals into doing the action that you want, which is coming to your website. The important thing here is to not just try to optimize and do keyword research for your content, but also be aware of the main terms that are used in this instance as well. After all, if nobody clicks through, then it has all been pretty pointless.

Make life easier for yourself by studying other meta tags and descriptions, research the keywords, and then play around with them to see what gets the best response.

As with everything else above, this is not going to be possible without adequate keyword research.

Now, to be honest, we could go on and on about the benefits of keyword research and why you would be wrong to assume that the process, or art of research, is dead. Instead, it is very much alive and kicking and it could easily be argued that it is actually even more important than before with there generally being as much competition.

Perhaps the key thing to do here is to forget the theory that the Hummingbird update made keyword research obsolete and just focus on the simple fact that this is still something that you need to do and it would be in your best interest to have an expert help you out. After all, the potential future success of your website is at stake.

Dealing with Keyword Stuffing

When we examined our list of SEO terms that you should really know about, we mentioned the concept of keyword stuffing. We stated how this is something that you need to avoid at all costs or else Google will quite simply penalize your website and you will then see yourself just plummeting down the results pages. However, in order to avoid it, we understand that you need to have a better idea of what it is or else how can you take the appropriate action?

The History of Keyword Stuffing.

To really get to grips with the concept of keyword stuffing, we need to give you a short history lesson on SEO and the techniques or methods that used to be applied. In the past, it was all about the frequency of keywords and terms related to your keywords and if you had them mentioned a number of times then the search engines would pick up on it and you would be ranked better.

The problem here was that Google began to realize that people were just throwing in keywords without the text actually making sense. It was all just a ploy to rank higher and get people to their website in the first place.

Now, this was not exactly something that they wanted to be involved in as it meant that the end user was basically being duped into using a website that was just incapable of being a quality resource and was all about just getting people there in the first place. As a result, Google changed the algorithm so that it was no longer related to the number of times that you had a keyword on your page but how it was used. This forms the basis of the quality over quantity argument that transcends so much of SEO.

The Basics of Keyword Stuffing.

With keyword stuffing, the idea is pretty simple. You have the keywords related to your website, you have text, headings, image tags, and anything else and you try to include those keywords as often as possible.

Now, this is going to be very easy to do, but at the same time it is also going to really disrupt your website as it becomes very apparent to your visitors that all you are doing is trying to get those tags mentioned as many times as possible. The result is often a mess of a page with text that is almost impossible to understand so even when you were able to get people to your page it would often result in people just navigating away.

How to Avoid it and What to do.

The question that people now ask when it comes to SEO is still keyword related, but it is more about how you handle the keyword situation so that you do not fall foul of the Google terms and conditions.

To be honest, so much work has to go into the initial study of keywords so that the correct terms are targeted leading to the best possible outcome for your budget and target market. It is more connected to the ability to find easier to target terms with less competition and carefully weaving the terms into the fabric of the text so that it appears naturally and is also compelling. At the same time, the website should also provide value of some kind to the visitors.

It is important that you are able to step back and realize that it is the quality of what you say and the keywords that you use rather than the quantity. Google now promotes websites that offer quality experiences no matter what industry it is and any attempt to subvert their quest for providing quality links as being the best out there is something that has to be avoided.

In other words, to avoid keyword stuffing you need to think about these points or you could run into a number of difficulties in a short period of time.

  • Choose keywords and terms wisely.
  • Do not try to squeeze in as many as you think possible.
  • Make sure that they are used in a natural way rather than forced into the text.
  • Keep the keyword percentage low.
  • See keywords as just one piece of the SEO jigsaw rather than the main thing.

So, if you were of the opinion that just putting in as many keywords as possible would make a difference to how you are ranked on Google, then you would be correct in thinking that just it is not going to work out in the manner that you had hoped. Instead of ranking higher as a result, you are going to head in the opposite direction because it is all about careful placement of keywords, not overdoing it, and also just providing your visitors with something that is worthwhile.

The days of throwing countless backlinks or keywords at a website are now long gone and the Internet is better for it.

A More In-Depth Look at the Bounce Rate

Bounce RateWe have previously looked at a list of the most commonly used SEO terms that we feel you should be aware of and there have also been times in the past where we have studied a couple of the terms in their very own blog post. However, as the world of SEO is so vast and complicated, it does provide us with the opportunity to look at several of the others that do still play a role in the rather complex world of SEO.

Looking at the Bounce Rate Once Again.

In the other post we mentioned the concept of the bounce rate and this is certainly something that we need to investigate a bit further because of how important it is not only in an SEO way but also from the perspective of web design.

As we said, the bounce rate refers to the percentage of people that visit your website and then only checks out one page before leaving. From an SEO perspective, this is a major problem as it is then taken as meaning that your website is actually quite boring or else people would not just leave. In other words, it is best that you look closely at the design of your page to make sure that those visitors feel as if they have something to hang around for.

Now, there are a number of ways in which you can improve your bounce rate and yet we need to begin by thinking about one important thing, perhaps you are getting the wrong people to your website?

Yes, this is entirely possible and it makes a great deal of sense that if people are finding your website that do not really have any kind of an interest in what you are doing, then of course they are going to just click off almost immediately.

This can come down to the wrong type of SEO being done or the wrong keywords being used to draw people in so clearly changes have to be made.

However, there are a number of other methods that can be employed that should reduce this bounce rate quite considerably.

1. Provide clear navigation.

This is important because if people are struggling to find out how to move around your website then why would they then put themselves through that pressure of wondering where to go next? This only encourages people to just visit the one page simply because they do not understand how to move around. By providing clear navigation, rather than trying to be too clever, it reduces the chances of this happening.

2. The speed has a role to play.

People are seen as being less patient now when it comes to a website loading. In other words, if your site is slow then those visitors are not going to hang around too long before they are clicking to go elsewhere. We always appear to be in a rush so it is important to keep that in mind especially with the home page because if it is too complex and too heavy then it is best to change it.

3. Poor design is not a positive thing.

Perhaps due to the sheer choice of websites that are out there, people are now less likely to be willing to put up with a website that has a poor design. Now, we are not just talking about the layout but in actual fact we are referring to absolutely everything that then makes up the user experience. It is known that people make up their mind about your website within seconds of landing there so if their first impression is not positive, then what are they going to do? Obviously it is impossible for everybody to be happy with it, but if your bounce rate is far too high then perhaps a re-design is in order.

4. Consider mobile ready.

The final point that we are going to quickly discuss that can have an impact on your bounce rate is whether or not your site is actually mobile ready. Think about it for a moment. If your site is not going to work on smartphones or tablets then obviously people are going to just click off straight away. You should by all accounts have a responsive design in order to deal with this and if you do not, then we suggest that you change that immediately.

The point that we are trying to make here regarding the bounce rate is that it is all about that important first impression. You want people to be able to land on your home page, know what you are about and also where they have to go in order to get the answers to the questions that they are seeking. If they feel as if they have landed up against a rather plain and boring brick wall then they have no other option but to just leave without giving you the opportunity to convince them otherwise.